A Wrong Call On Caller Id

October 03, 1991

Anyone who wants to know who`s knocking before opening the door has a simple solution: Install a peephole.

But anyone who wants to know who`s calling before answering the telephone has been out of luck-until now. Technology has overcome that old drawback with a device known as ``Caller ID,`` which displays the phone number of the caller.

The technology is no longer brand new, but it is still largely unexploited. In state after state, including Illinois, politics has kept the remedy out of the hands of consumers who want it. And now the Federal Communications Commission, in an effort to devise a compromise to satisfy both sides, may deprive consumers of much of the value of this overdue advance.

Opponents warn that Caller ID will be a matchless marketing tool for retailers and catalog houses, enabling them to assemble and sell information about phone customers. They regard this as a threat to personal privacy-ignoring the invasions that come from unwanted calls. They also think people calling from unlisted numbers and others who don`t want their numbers known should be free to keep them secret.

So they propose that consumers be provided with devices that block the display. The problem is that this option could render Caller ID largely useless. Who is going to buy Caller ID if it won`t identify much?

The FCC rejected the idea of letting callers automatically block identification of all their calls, but proposed to let them do it one call at a time. This may sound like splitting the difference, but it`s not.

It provides protection not only to the few who have a legitimate need for it, but also to the people who have highly illegitimate needs. Obscene callers and other cranks would remain free to abuse their victims without fear of being caught. And it would allow people who may be merely pests to call without alerting the people they are bothering.

Some accommodation should be made for people who pay for unlisted numbers or who have a clear need to keep their numbers secret-say, shelters for battered women. But by impairing the value of Caller ID to everyone, the FCC is depriving phone customers of an improvement that most would welcome.